Monday, April 10, 2017

Follow or Flee?

The liturgy of Palm Sunday is
dramatic. Recounting events in Jerusalem in the last days of our Lord's earthly
life, it traces a path from triumph to shame. Scripture recalls that crowds of
people hailed him as king upon his entry into the city, but that a few days
later he was left abandoned as he hung upon the Cross.

This commemoration poses a
question that we would do well to carry with us into Holy Week: follow or flee?
The crowds were quite happy to follow the Lord into Jerusalem when all seemed
well. They wanted to benefit from the triumphal liberation that they supposed
him to be bringing. At some point, though, it became clear exactly where the
Lord's particular path was leading. The shadow of the Cross began to loom very
large, and the enthusiasm for Jesus quickly evaporated. They fled.

Entering Holy Week means
entering Jerusalem with him. We follow him into the city through our
participation in the solemn liturgies of the coming days. The story of the
crowds in Jerusalem of old raises for us today the question of just how far we
are willing to go. Will we follow or will we flee? Will we go where he leads us
or will we choose to forge our own path?

Faithful following of Jesus
Christ leads to the Cross. We know that. Yet we also know that the journey does
not end there. This Holy Week will culminate with the joyful celebration at
Easter of the Lord's resurrection from the dead. The path of Jesus leads to the
fullness of life, indeed, to eternal life. This is where he is leading us. Yet
his journey also makes clear that this path passes inevitably through the
Cross. The path followed by the disciple of Jesus is that of self-denial,
self-sacrifice, indeed death to self so as to live for God and for others.

In our age that exalts personal
autonomy to the point of idolatry, any idea of self-sacrifice or abnegation,
even for the sake of a greater good, is for many incomprehensible. It is,
indeed, something to flee. What Jesus teaches, though, is that flight into the
self leads nowhere. That path finishes in a dead end. In light of the
Resurrection we see clearly that only the Cross opens our lives up to a
limitless future, to an infinite horizon. It is not something shameful from
which to flee in terror but a wondrous mystery to be embraced with hope.

May the grace of the Holy Week
celebrations free us from fear and strengthen our faith, so that we may follow
the Lord in all things and never flee from his love.

This picture shows one of the panels on the holy door at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. I have always loved it, and it speaks beautifully of the Good Shepherd reaching out to save the lost. That's the reason for hope.

About Me

Richard W. Smith was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 28, 1959, and ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1987. He was appointed Bishop of Pembroke on April 27, 2002. On March 22, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the Metropolitan See of Edmonton. In 2009 he was elected vice-president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.